Real Madrid start ‘war’ against France over Mbappe as Paris 2024 moves out of sight
Real Madrid and the La Liga club’s president Florentino Perez have started a ‘war’ against France amid their imminent signing of Kylian Mbappe, according to reports.
The France international’s game time in Ligue 1 has taken a hit in recent weeks after it was announced that he will be leaving Paris Saint-Germain at the end of the season on a free transfer.
Kylian Mbappe: Club vs country row brewing
He is still undroppable in the Champions League with Mbappe bagging two goals in their recent victory over Real Sociedad – but he has started only two of their last four Ligue 1 fixtures.
France boss Didier Deschamps even gave a sarcastic answer when asked for his thoughts on Mbappe’s reduced game time, he told reporters earlier this week: “It’s super, magnificent.
“Given the number of games he has played… the element of freshness in a big competition is key. It’s good that they have game time, but playing every three days… there will be fatigue. I am not at all worried about Kylian’s rhythm. These are the manager’s choices.”
It’s widely reported that Mbappe will join Real Madrid in the summer, although it has not been officially announced, and France could then have another problem to deal with.
One major obstacle to overcome has been Mbappe’s participation in the 2024 Olympics, which are being hosted in Paris and will run from July 26 to August 11.
And now French newspaper L’Equipe (via Forbes) claims that Real Madrid and their president Perez are now going to ‘war’ with France over Mbappe taking part in the event.
Real Madrid’s stance is that they will not allow any of their other French players, including Eduardo Camavinga, Aurelien Tchouameni and Ferland Mendy, play in Paris later this year with their decision set to increase hostility between the Spanish club and the French Football Federation,
The L’Equipe report insists that Mbappe’s participation is ‘increasingly compromised’ by his pending transfer to Real Madrid with the newspaper adding: ‘Whatever Mbappe’s desire for the Olympic experience, the possibility of seeing him compete in the Olympics with France is diminishing day by day. Hopes would be quite slim.’
Mbappe wants to play at the Olympic games, especially because it’s in his own country, but he “would understand” if it wasn’t possible this summer.
“I have reached a point in my life and career where I no longer want to force things,” Mbappe told GQ.
“If they let me do them, I would go with great pleasure. But if it is not possible, I would understand. For any athlete, the Olympics have a special place and I already wanted to go to Tokyo because I want to win everything and write my name in the history of the French team as that of a player who mattered.”
Real Madrid transfer is all but confirmed
Explaining how Mbappe’s imminent transfer to Real Madrid came about, Fabrizio Romano wrote in his Caught Offside column at the end of last month: “We still have to wait for formal steps with Kylian Mbappe and Real Madrid, as from what I’m hearing nothing is signed yet.
“Still, I really think this time it’s the end of the saga and the formal step will happen soon, and Mbappe will communicate with PSG once he’s formally signed the document. At that moment, PSG will announce that Mbappe will leave the club as a free agent.
“I can confirm that Mbappe, his mother, his lawyers, all have the contract proposal from Real Madrid in their hands. So it’s a matter of time now. Of course, this has been a long time in the making, and it seems that last summer something was broken between Mbappe and PSG, when he was left out of Luis Enrique’s pre-season squad and it was a really tense situation.
“In the end, PSG were able to fix that situation, but in December Mbappe decided to leave the club and in January he took some time to communicate with his camp and then to inform Nasser Al-Khelaifi on his decision. It seems it’s time for him to leave and try something different – he was already tempted by Real Madrid two years ago, and now he felt it was time to try a new project, a new league after a long time at PSG.”
READ MORE: The ridiculous stats of Kylian Mbappe: more Champions League goals than Salah and Drogba
